Global Impact Camp speakers and mentors

The Helsinki Challenge finalist teams travelled to Brussels in September 2017 to acquire new partnerships. The Global Impact Camp in Brussels was a two-day intensive co-creation session focusing on societal impact of research, funding and collaboration with international experts and EU decision-makers. 

Global Impact Camp mentors 2017

Sven Dammann, European Commission
Sven Dammann, PhD, works as Policy Officer for Innovation and Competitiveness at the European Commission, Directorate General for Climate Action. He previously worked at DG CLIMA with decarbonisation of road transport, and Member States' greenhouse-gas emission reduction obligations in non-emission-trading-scheme sectors (in particular in buildings and transport). At DG Energy Dammann supervised and evaluated EU-projects on energy-efficiency in buildings, urban districts and industry. At the European Economic and Social Committee Sven Dammann edited the European Cycling Lexicon. He also worked at the European Environment Agency on a report on the use of scientific knowledge in policy making in the light of the precautionary principle. For his PhD from the TU Denmark and the Danish Building Research Institute Dammann studied environmental indicators for buildings in a social-constructivist approach. He has a first university degree in architecture and also carried out socio-economic research in rural Russia.

Annika Hedberg, European Policy Centre
Annika Hedberg is a Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre where she leads the Sustainable Prosperity for Europe Programme. The Programme monitors and analyses developments within Europe’s economy, and explores how to achieve growth that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. In addition to managing EPC’s work on economic governance, the transition to cleaner and smarter Europe, and enablers for change (including the single market and the digital agenda), she specialises in the internal dimension of the EU Energy Union, climate action, circular economy and smarter use of resources. Prior to joining the EPC, she worked at the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA, a policy think tank based in Helsinki, and at the Finnish Foreign Ministry.

Tellervo Kylä-Harakka-Ruonala, European Economic and Social Committee
Tellervo Kylä-Harakka-Ruonala is Member of the Employers' Group and the Bureau of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) where she has been involved, among other things, in mainstreaming the approach of sustainable development. Previously she has worked for the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) and held executive positions in the fields of business infrastructure and sustainability, including European cooperation in BusinessEurope networks. Before joining industrial organisations, she worked for the Ministry of the Environment and for the National Board of Waters. As Chairman of the Governing Board of Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation she also contributes to the funding of research. She holds a D.Sc. from the University of Helsinki.

Nora van der Linden, Kennisland
Nora van der Linden is a Director and social innovation advisor at Kennisland. She develops new approaches, strategies and interventions for complex social problems. In 2012, van der Linden set up Radical Innovators, a competition for individuals and organisations working on creative solutions to complex problems. She has developed a variety of learning programmes to support social innovators in the Netherlands, Europe and the rest of the world. In recent years these programmes have included the European Social Innovation Competition, Hivos Learning Community and various Social Innovation Safaris.

Markku Markkula, European Committee of the Regions
Markku Markkula is First Vice-President (2017-2019) and former President (2015-2017) of European Committee of the Regions. Markkula was the first Nordic citizen to be appointed to the post of President of the Committee and emphasized the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation during his two-and-a-half year term of office. A long-standing politician, Markkula has been member of the Espoo City Council since 1980 (holding its Presidency in 1990-92 and 2010) and is a former member of the Finnish Parliament (1995-2003). Recently he was appointed the Chair of the Board of the Espoo City (2017-2021). Additionally he works at the Aalto University as advisor to Aalto Presidents, where his focus mainly lays on European Union research, innovation and education policy affairs.

Sonia Ortega, National Science Foundation, Europe and Eurasia Office
Dr. Sonia Ortega is head of the Europe and Eurasia Office at the National Science Foundation. She has been at USEU since December 2015. Prior to coming to Brussels, Sonia was a Program Director for East Asia and Pacific countries at the NSF’s Office of International Science and Engineering. She was an Embassy Science Fellow at the US Embassy in Malaysia, served as NSF representative in the Antarctic, worked as Director of Education and International Programs at the University of New Mexico and worked as Research Associate at Duke University before joining the NSF in 1989. She holds a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of South Carolina and a Masters in Zoology from Duke University. Ortega has extensive knowledge of science and engineering research and education policies and has represented NSF at national and international science and education meetings.

James Paskins, University College London
James Paskins is Co-ordinator for the Grand Challenge of Sustainable Cities and the London Agenda at UCL, initiatives which encourage cross-disciplinary research into complex societal issues. He is a member of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He holds a BSc in Psychology from the University of Westminster, and a PhD in Transport Studies from UCL; his thesis investigated the role of cognitive mapping skills in children’s mobility. His research interests cross the boundaries between transport, urban sustainability, psychology, and accessibility research. He has extensive experience in undertaking and managing interdisciplinary research, including being programme manager for the EPSRC funded Bridging the Gaps: Sustainable Urban Spaces project at UCL and researcher on a number of EPSRC funded transport research projects.

Sirpa Pietikäinen, Member of the European Parliament
Sirpa Pietikäinen is a Finnish member of the European People's Party (EPP) in the European Parliament since 2008. Pietikäinen is a former Finnish Minister of Environment (1991-1995). Her career at the Finnish parliament is extensive, ranging from the year 1983 to 2003. She first came to the European Parliament to replace Alexander Stubb in 2008, and was re-elected in 2009 and 2014. At the European Parliament, Pietikäinen is a member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and PANA-Committee, and a substitute member of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, and the Women’s Right and Gender Equality Committee. A graduate from the Helsinki School of Economics, she still teaches university courses on negotiations theory and practices. Pietikäinen is also active in several organizations. Her positions of trust include Chairmanship of the Globe EU and membership of the board of Alzheimer Europe.

Tapani Piha, Cross-border Healthcare & eHealth, European Commission
Tapani Piha works as Head of Cross-Border Healthcare & eHealth Unit in the European Commission. Since 2001 in the Commission, Piha has been responsible for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) policy, health strategy, health information, expert advice for health systems, health law, health research coordination, and human resources. Before joining the Commission, he carried out epidemiological and intervention research on health behaviours and cardiovascular disease. He held positions at the Finnish Ministry of Health, and coordinated Finland's EU policies in health in 1995-2001. At the WHO Regional Office for Europe in 1989-94 he was responsible for the Action Plan for a Tobacco-free Europe.

Araathi Prasad, University College London
Dr. Aarathi Prasad is based at University College London where she manages UCL Grand Challenges portfolios focused on technology and culture. Through convening cross-disciplinary research across the university and with local and international partners, her work aims to set the agenda for future research, and research-informed public and policy engagement. Aarathi has a PhD in molecular genetics from Imperial College London. Her post-doctoral work focused on using chemical genetics to identify early therapeutic targets in cancers, and she subsequently worked in the UK Parliament on the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008. She has been a science advisor to the British Council, where she developed international research collaborations and policy, and public engagement in science. She has written and presented science documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, and is the author of two popular science books.

Aura Salla, European Political Strategy Centre, European Commission
Aura Salla works as an Adviser for Communication and Outreach in the European Political Strategy Centre. The EPSC acts as an advisory body, an in-house think tank, to the President of the European Commission and reports directly to him and the College of the EU Commissioners on various topics. Salla was previously working as a Member of Cabinet and Communications Adviser of Jyrki Katainen, European Commission Vice President responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness.

Lennart Stoy, European University Association
Lennart Stoy is Project Manager in the Research & Innovation unit of the European University Association (EUA). He joined EUA in 2014 and works on the development of EUA’s European Platform for Universities in Energy Research & Education and the UNI-SET project (‘Universities in the SET-Plan’). Stoy is a graduate of Leiden University’s Master’s programme in Political Science and holds a Bachelor’s degree in East Asian Economical & Political Studies from Ruhr University Bochum. Before joining EUA, he gained experience in the Global Knowledge Sharing and Learning unit at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and at the Sino-German Cultural and Economic Association in Taipei.

 

Global Impact camp speakers 2017

 

Wiljan van den Akker, Utrecht University
Wiljan van den Akker is Faculty Professor of Modern Poetry and Vice-Rector of Research at Utrecht University. He is a prominent voice in the discussion, both within the Netherlands and in an international context, about the impact of research. Van den Akker is one the two authors of LERU’s newly launched policy paper on why and how societal impact has always been, is and will remain, a core task of universities.

Anthony Antoine, UNU-CRIS
Anthony Antoine is the Deputy Director of the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies. Antoine holds a degree in Political Science and studied as Erasmus student at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the University of Central Lancashire and the Université Libre de Bruxelles. After having worked for NATO's Office for Information and Press (1995-1997) he became CEO of the companies Allied Consultants and Dune Enterprises (1997-2002). Since 2002, Anthony is full-time Executive Director of the Institute for European Studies at VUB. He is also member of the Audit Committee of the Erasmus Hogeschool and Advisor to the President of the Brussels University Alliance.

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, European Research Council
Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon is the President of the European Research Council since January 2014. Prior to that, he was the Director of the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS) from 1994 till 2013. This international research institute located near Paris, France, was built as the European counterpart of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was also the first ERC Panel Chair in Mathematics, for Starting Grants.

Mark Ferguson, Science Foundation Ireland
Professor Mark W. J. Ferguson commenced as Director General of Science Foundation Ireland in January 2012 and as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland in October 2012. He was appointed Professor in Life Sciences at the University of Manchester in 1984. Professor Ferguson is a founding member of the Small Advanced Economies Initiative and Chair of the eHealth Ireland Committee. Ferguson is a member of EU High Level Expert Group on H2020 Impact. In June 2017 the group issued a report “LAB – FAB – APP: Investing in the European future we want”.

Jyrki Katainen, European Commission
Jyrki Katainen is currently Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness. He joined the Commission in July 2014 as Vice-President for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the euro. Before that he served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and Minister of Finance from 2007 to 2011. From 1999 to 2014, he was a Member of Finnish Parliament for the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). Katainen was a Member of the Finnish Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly from 2003 to 2007, a Member of the Administrative Council of the Finnish Broadcasting Company from 2003 to 2005, a Member of the Finnish Delegation to the Western European Union Parliamentary Assembly from 2004 to 2005 and a Deputy Member of the Finnish Delegation to the Nordic Council from 2001 to 2003. Katainen has an M.Sc. in Political Science from the University of Tampere, Finland and he did an Erasmus exchange year at the University of Leicester, UK.

Nora van der Linden, Kennisland
Nora van der Linden is a Director and social innovation advisor at Kennisland. She develops new approaches, strategies and interventions for complex social problems. In 2012, van der Linden set up Radical Innovators, a competition for individuals and organisations working on creative solutions to complex problems. She has developed a variety of learning programmes to support social innovators in the Netherlands, Europe and the rest of the world. In recent years these programmes have included the European Social Innovation Competition, Hivos Learning Community and various Social Innovation Safaris.

Markus Nordberg, CERN
Dr. Markus Nordberg is the Head of Resources Development of the Development and Innovation Unit at CERN, Switzerland. He is currently involved in launching a sensor and imaging R&D initiative called ATTRACT aiming at both scientific and societal impact. He also manages the new IdeaSquare initiative at CERN that hosts detector R&D and society-driven MSc-student projects. Prior to this function, he served 12 years as the Resources Coordinator of the ATLAS project at CERN. He has also served as Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Centrum voor Bedrijfseconomie, Faculty ESP-Solvay Business School, University of Brussels, and as a member of the Academy of Management, Strategic Management Society and the Association of Finnish Parliament Members and Scientists, TUTKAS.

Anneli Pauli, European Commission
Anneli Pauli works in the European Commission's Directorate-General Climate Action as the Advisor hors classe (Innovation and Competitiveness) and has worked as the Deputy Director General both in the Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation as well as in Commission's Joint Research Centre, Vice President for research at the Academy of Finland, Director of Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre Foundation and as the President of the Lappeenranta University of Technology. Pauli hopes that Finnish universities would seek solutions to global problems with an interdisciplinary approach.

Sirpa Pietikäinen, Member of the European Parliament
Sirpa Pietikäinen is a Finnish member of the European People's Party (EPP) in the European Parliament since 2008. Pietikäinen is a former Finnish Minister of Environment (1991-1995). Her career at the Finnish parliament is extensive, ranging from the year 1983 to 2003. She first came to the European Parliament to replace Alexander Stubb in 2008, and was re-elected in 2009 and 2014. At the European Parliament, Pietikäinen is a member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and PANA-Committee, and a substitute member of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, and the Women’s Right and Gender Equality Committee. A graduate from the Helsinki School of Economics, she still teaches university courses on negotiations theory and practices. Pietikäinen is also active in several organizations. Her positions of trust include Chairmanship of the Globe EU and membership of the board of Alzheimer Europe.

Thomas Wilhelmsson, University of Helsinki
Thomas Wilhelmsson, Doctor of Legal Science, is since 1982 Professor of Civil and Commercial Law at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He was 1998-2008 Vice-rector of the University, in charge of international affairs, 2008-2013 Rector, and 2013-2017 Chancellor of the University. As rector he has led a thorough university reform, converting the University from a state office into an independent public law legal person. He was 2010-2013 Vice Chair of the Finnish university association UNIFI and 2012-2013 President of the Scandinavian university association NUS. Since 2015 he is chairing the board of the Finnish public broadcasting company YLE. As researcher professor Wilhelmsson has published books and articles in thirteen languages in contract law, insurance law, consumer law, the law of partnerships, tort law, European law and legal theory. He has been awarded the title Doctor iuris honoris causa by the Uppsala, Oslo and Tartu universities. He was awarded the Nordic Lawyers Prize in 2011.

 

What is Global Impact Camp? Read more here. Register for the event here.